


Politics in The Originals

by Metabird (wheatear)



Series: Essays on power [3]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Character Analysis, Character Study, Gen, Leadership, Meta, Nonfiction, Politics, Power Dynamics, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Vampire Family, Vampire Hierarchies, Vampire Politics, character comparison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:03:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23121094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheatear/pseuds/Metabird
Summary: How Marcel Gerard uses charisma, empathy and games to build a vampire community. A meta analysis of Marcel as a political leader.
Relationships: Marcel Gerard & Elijah Mikaelson, Marcel Gerard & Klaus Mikaelson
Series: Essays on power [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653358
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Politics in The Originals

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this meta in 2014, so before Season 3. Cross-posted for the March Meta Matters Challenge.

There are structures in politics. Hierarchies. That's how power works: those who lead are at the top, minions at the bottom. No one is more aware of that than Marcel.  
  
Marcel is a gifted political thinker and a charismatic leader. A lot of that comes from his innate charm, but I think you can also see how his character history has shaped his political ability and philosophy too. As a child he was a slave. He knows what it's like to be at the bottom of the pile. I think having that experience is what makes him willing and able to reach out to those are disempowered, and to connect with them in a genuine way. A good example is the new vampire community he creates in Season 2. He seems to have pulled them out from the lower rungs of society and given them a new home, somewhere to belong, just as Klaus did for him. This is what allows him to create a community.  
  
Maintaining and running that community, however, takes a different set of skills. This is where Marcel's later life experience comes in. He was taken in and taught by Klaus, and claims that he learned everything he knows from Klaus. So he knows what it's like to be at the top of the food chain as well. He learned how to navigate the treacherous waters of the Original family. He must have seen the Originals assert their power and authority over others a thousand times, and I think that made him very sensitive not only to power structures in general, but also the shifting alliances of personal relationships and what a difference getting the right people on your side can make. So he knows the value of unity, of standing together against a common enemy, and of making sure that he's friends with the right people. You can see how all of this stood Marcel in good stead over the years.  
  
Marcel's people are loyal to him. Incredibly loyal, given how many of them were willing to even stand against an Original for him. They kill for him, they die for him. Marcel is not only good at inspiring loyalty, he also understands the value of it. He cultivates it. This is where we see a difference from Klaus, because although Klaus expects (an extreme level of) loyalty, he generally just demands it. Marcel isn't strong enough to demand loyalty in the way that Klaus can. It would only take one vampire to stake him in the heart. Whereas Klaus is virtually invincible; no one _can_ stand against him. And he deters anyone who tries by killing them or their loved ones.  
  
It's rare that Klaus displays much empathy, and when he does it tends to be towards specific individuals, and not that applicable in a wider political context. Empathy, however, is one of Marcel's main political tools. Marcel's empathy makes him friends. Look at Josh. Despite the horrific way Josh was pulled in to vampire society, Josh is friends with and loyal to Marcel, not Klaus. For much of the first season, Josh was forced to play minion to Klaus, but at no point did Klaus make any effort to do anything other than force Josh to comply. Contrast this with even just one small effort on Marcel's part to connect with Josh, when he takes an interest in who Josh is dating. That's a nice thing to do. It's what friends do. It's not even that much, but it makes Josh feel valued, not anonymous, more like a part of Marcel's community and less like an expendable minion. Marcel can't force everyone to follow him; they have to want to follow him. Being nice does work.  
  
You could also contrast Marcel's genuine investment in his vampire community with the disdain that Elijah frequently voiced for them. Neither Klaus nor Elijah bothered to get to know any of Marcel's vampires. Yet they expected all of those vampires to follow their orders, to jump when they said jump, to drop everything when Klaus and Elijah needed them. The rest of the time, those vampires might as well not have existed. Basically, it could not be more obvious that Marcel's vampires were expendable and worthless in the Originals' eyes; none of the Mikaelsons cared a jot about them. That is not the way to make your people like you.  
  
Another interesting thing about Marcel is the way he uses games to maintain and assert his authority. There's nothing frivolous about it, even if it appears that way. Marcel gives himself the advantage by creating the game rather than playing it. In other words, he sets the rules and makes others play. Once you start playing, you're sucked into his rules and it becomes hard to back out. For example, he gets his vampires to compete for the chance to win a daylight ring by fighting each other. And then there was his trick with the coin when he turned Josh. That was a very deliberate statement by Marcel that he was the one in control, and he made sure to establish that right from the start. He's very aware that in order to make the system work in his favour, he has to be the one creating and/or controlling it.  
  
Marcel works with what he has, and while he's no slouch in terms of raw strength, his main gifts as a political leader lie in his charisma, his sense of community and empathy, and the way he builds trust and respect by rewarding loyalty and punishing treachery (Klaus tends to forget to do the former). He makes rules and he enforces them. He keeps his word. (There is definitely also some Elijah influence here.) He has the Garden for punishment. And he has the daylight rings as a reward. He's created an entire system whereby vampires can work their way up the ranks and earn a daylight ring and a place by Marcel's side through demonstrating their commitment to his community. Once you buy into that system, once you commit yourself to it, then it provides its own incentives and reasons for staying.  
  
Marcel built all that. It took time and effort, but he has the patience and the will to see it through. Here's another difference with Klaus: Marcel doesn't burn his bridges. Not after all that effort he went through to build them in the first place. Klaus on the other hand is much quicker to kill and/or destroy anything in his way, even to his own detriment. Marcel is more likely to take a softer approach where appropriate, because he knows that in the long term it will pay off. And he learns from his mistakes.  
  
And once his community is built, he defends it. The ability to negotiate with other leaders is crucial in politics. Marcel and his vampires aren't the only power in town. Certainly, by the time the Originals swoop in, the werewolves and the witches soon become a threat as well. Again, I think Marcel's experience in dealing with the Original family and watching how they dealt with their enemies taught him a lot. It taught him to be ruthless. He will put down his enemies when he can, without batting an eye. And he will use all the resources at his disposal to ensure his victory.  
  
He did inherit one weakness from the Original family, which is hubris. Marcel's pride wouldn't let him back down from Klaus at first, and he was playing a very dangerous game trying to go up against Klaus in Season 1. He has the social skills to play the Originals against each other, which is how he survived, but I think he learned from what happened in Season 1. That's why in Season 2 he actively worked to get Elijah on his side – notably, Elijah was the one who banished Marcel from the French Quarter in the first place, and between Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah he's also the one with the least personal investment in Marcel. So this was a smart move on a number of levels.  
  
And finally... 2x02 is an absolute goldmine of showcasing the differences in the way that Klaus, Elijah and Marcel think about politics. First there's the contrast in the way that Elijah and Marcel approach Davina:  
  


> MARCEL: I'll get her to give the stake back right, just give me some time.  
ELIJAH: Unfortunately Marcel, unlike these wretched souls that you recruit here, your promises do little to inspire my faith. One way or another Davina will comply.  
MARCEL: Look, hey. Do you ever wonder why your family has so many enemies? It's because you make stupid moves like this. It really makes me wonder how the hell I ever survived you people.

  
  
And then there's Klaus giving Hayley his own personal lesson in politics:  
  


> KLAUS: You need to learn about the art of politics, love. You gain support by killing your detractors.

  
  
(This was actually a clever move by Klaus. He positioned himself as the big bad so that Hayley could be "merciful" in comparison, thus helping her to gain the support of her people. He's not just a brute force; Klaus is impulsive and tends to make up strategy on the fly, but he's always on point with it. After all, Marcel did learn a lot from Klaus.)


End file.
